Collectables

The arms fair held in the Pillar Hall in Olympia is moving to another venue in west London which provides greater space.

Discovered hanging on a gold charm bracelet, a rare Mughal coin has sold for Can$420,000 (£248,000) at a Canadian auction house.

Bible suggests confusion over ‘he’ or ‘she’ may not be purely a modern-day phenomenon.

Two ‘Frost Fair’ broadsides printed at one of the many stalls set up on the Thames during a hard 18th century winter in which London’s river froze over were sold in a recent sale held by Dominic Winter (20% buyer’s premium).

Published anonymously in Boston in 1828, a copy of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s youthful first book, 'Fanshawe', sold for $38,000 (£28,790) at Bonhams New York (27.5/25/20/13.9%).

Fifty or so lots from the library of the Earls of Haddington that were offered as part of London sale included their fair share of exceptional lots.

Book dealer Tom Lintern-Mole runs Antiquates in Corfe Castle, Dorset.

Our regular listing of British and Irish book auctions.

Claymores (the word comes from the Scottish Gaelic claidheamh-mor meaning ‘great sword’) were the weapon of choice in the ongoing warfare between Highland clans and border skirmishes with the English from c.1400-1700.

A trio of five-figure offerings got Salisbury auction house Woolley & Wallis (25% buyer’s premium) off to a great start for 2020.

A trio of pure collectables picked up by UK privates bidders at the Woolley & Wallis (25% buyer’s premium) auction in Salisbury on January 8.

An unusual but welcome inclusion to the latest silver and vertu sale at Lawrences of Crewkerne was a medieval walrus ivory tableman or backgammon piece.

Two men have pleaded guilty in connection with the theft of rare books and manuscripts from the Carnegie Library in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

The latest sale at Clarks in Liskeard included a collection of walking canes collected by the late actor Edward Woodward.

The impressive arms offered in London from a collection which supplied weapons for many films were far from being theatrical props

One fascinating section of a recent Thomas Del Mar (25% buyer’s premium) sale featured Stone Age and Viking weapons and artefacts from a European private collection.

‘Long and intensive build-up’ on Facebook brings in younger buyers to one-day event, writes Jeremy Carson.

Any museum or collector seeking a centrepiece for their display need look no further than the Gatling gun – a pivotal invention that makes its presence felt by its sheer size and bling.